Entangled (PubMe Romance)

CHAPTER 1

REMI

The first light of dawn filters through the shutters, gently teasing my eyelids.

I reach out and let my hand rest on the delicate curve of Maddie’s shoulder, feeling the warmth of her skin beneath my palm.

A faint smile tugs at my lips as I soak in the moment.

She’s still asleep, and I hesitate to wake her, but I’m drawn to her, almost without thinking.

I turn towards Maddie, still drowsy, and take in the sight of her golden curls, fanned out around her beautiful face like a halo.

The thought that we won’t have mornings like this for the next two months unsettles me more than I’d like to admit.

I’ve never been the clingy type, but Maddie and I only recently started living together, finally revelling in the comfort of a space that’s truly ours.

Most weekends, we’d escape here, wrapped up in each other, making love and bingeing Netflix like the outside world didn’t exist.

Before that, in the three years we were dating, we had to work around housemates and clashing schedules just to steal a few private moments.

And now, just as we’ve carved out our little sanctuary, we’re staring down a long separation. I don’t even know if, or when, I’ll be able to visit her.

I’m doing my best to be the supportive boyfriend, to cheer her on, and put on a brave face. But deep down, I’m not entirely sure how I feel.

I know it won’t be easy for her either, and the last thing I want is to make it harder. She’s worked so hard for this, a prestigious internship at one of New York’s top auction houses, secured right after graduating from Central Saint Martins with honors.

She’s landed a coveted spot at Sotheby’s, and if all goes well, the internship could lead to a permanent position when she’s back in the UK.

Maddie is driven, fiercely independent, and ambitious, qualities that captivated me long before I ever noticed the graceful lines of her figure or the way her laugh lit up a room.

I admire that about her deeply. But it doesn’t make the truth any easier to swallow: I won’t be there beside her as she begins this incredible new chapter.

Originally, I was meant to join her in New York a month later. But then Professor Hawthorne, head of the Quantum Physics Department at Imperial College, asked me to stay on for an additional research project. And saying no to him just wasn’t an option.

He’s the one who secured my full scholarship, who believed in me from the very beginning. Without his support, I wouldn’t even be studying here.

I’ve never been afraid of hard work. I know what it means to make sacrifices. But the thought of not seeing Maddie for two whole months still makes my chest tighten.

And, as if everything else weren’t enough, I’ll soon be sharing the flat with someone I’ve never even met. Just the thought of it makes my skin crawl.

Because right before she left, my girlfriend dropped one final surprise on me: she asked me to host a childhood friend of hers, who also happens to be her ex-boyfriend.

Yes, that ex. The one she used to go on about endlessly back when we first started dating at uni.

At the time, I was living with Francis, my best mate and flatmate, and most of our evenings were spent out partying. He’s still at Imperial College now, studying medicine.

Francis and I go way back. We’re both from the same tiny village in Cornwall, Sennen Cove, and we’ve been joined at the hip since nursery school. He’s more like a brother than a friend, really. I care about him almost as much as I do about Maude, my sister, who’s still in Cornwall with our mum.

We both landed scholarships after finishing school, and that’s how we ended up at one of the top universities in London. We found this cramped little studio flat near campus.

It was basically a half-mouldy basement: one room, a bathroom, and a kitchenette squeezed between a saggy old sofa and a wobbly coffee table with a missing leg.

Since it was London, the rent was outrageous, of course, so Francis and I picked up as many shifts as we could at the college café just to stay afloat.

Our families helped when they could, but for the most part, we carried the weight ourselves, long days spent juggling lectures, coursework, and hours behind the counter. It wasn’t easy, but we were determined to make it work. To make something of ourselves.

Francis has always been the easy going one: sociable, effortlessly charming, and yes, annoyingly good-looking, so he never had much trouble attracting attention.

I’ve always been the quieter one. More reserved. Probably moodier, if you ask him. He’d call it grumpy. I’d call it discerning. Either way, we balanced each other out. We made a solid team.

One evening, Francis convinced me to tag along to The Blackbird, the pub where most of our college crowd liked to hang out. He had a date with Anne, his latest flame, and we were supposed to meet her housemates.

Anne, tall, striking, with long black hair, a sharp fringe, and lips that always looked like they were keeping secrets, introduced us to her flatmates: Noah and Maddie.

They were all freshers at Central Saint Martins, one of the most prestigious art schools in the world.

And Maddie... well, I was done for the moment I saw her.

Her honey-blonde curls, soft grey eyes, and curves that made it impossible to look away were captivating, but it was more than that. She had this quiet, magnetic energy. She was warm, clever, quick to smile… and without even trying, she pulled me in completely.

There was just one problem.

For half the evening, Maddie talked about her ex-boyfriend, the one who’d broken up with her after three years, seemingly out of nowhere, to go study piano in Paris.

She was clearly heartbroken, but what really threw me was how she still talked about him, as if he were the most wonderful person in the world.

She spoke about him like he’d truly meant something to her. Like losing him had left behind a space that nothing else could quite fill.

It was obvious she hadn’t moved on.

I’ll admit it: I was jealous. But I kept it to myself. I bit my tongue more than once just to stop myself from saying what I really thought about the guy.

The last thing I wanted was to come off as bitter or petty. I wanted Maddie to feel comfortable around me, to trust me. And going off on a rant about her ex wasn’t going to help.

So I listened. I nodded at the right moments, asked a few polite questions, made the occasional sympathetic noise, and tried not to roll my eyes too obviously.

It was the smart move. But it wasn’t easy.

Because the more I got to know her, the harder it was to understand how someone like Maddie, so confident, so bright, so full of life, could still be hung up on a guy who’d left her without even looking back.

And more than that, I couldn’t, for the life of me, work out how some pianist, no matter how brilliant, could ever let someone like her slip through his fingers.

Spending time with her only made things worse, in the best possible way.

The more I was around Maddie, the more I realized just how special she was. Not just beautiful and bright, but sharp, funny, endlessly curious, with a calm, grounded presence that drew you in without even trying.

I lived for those evenings on the sofa, just the two of us, sipping lukewarm Guinness, smoking half-stale cigarettes, and talking about everything and nothing. Even when her housemates were there, it always felt like we had our own little bubble, sealed off from the rest of the world.

Two or three times a week, Fran and I would head over to the flat she shared with Anne and Noah in Chelsea.

Compared to our mouldy little basement, it felt like stepping into another universe: high ceilings, gleaming floors, and actual sunlight pouring through proper windows.

We’d stay for hours, reluctant to leave, soaking up the warmth and light, both from the space… and from her.

Eventually, Francis would disappear into Anne’s room, Noah would head off with his boyfriend Jamie, and Maddie and I would be left alone. Always the two of us, always on that same sofa. No pressure, no grand declarations, just this quiet, unspoken tension growing between us, week after week.

For a long time, we stayed friends. Maddie wasn’t ready for more, and maybe I wasn’t either. Not then.

But one evening, something shifted. The flat was still, the others gone, and it was just the two of us again… but the air had changed. There was a spark in it, a quiet charge that set my nerves alight.

Then, without a word, Maddie reached out and gently tilted my chin with her fingers.

Her eyes met mine, bold and vulnerable all at once, and before I had time to think, she kissed me.

I’d wanted that kiss for so long, but I hadn’t seen it coming.

I knew I had to be gentle; this was a huge step for her. I also knew that since Sebastian, that was his name, there hadn’t been anyone else.

But in that moment, all I felt was joy. Maddie was finally ready to move on, and she’d chosen me.

I was over the moon.

During all those long months of friendship, I hadn’t been with anyone else either.

I was too wrapped up in her, too focused on not ruining whatever was quietly taking shape between us.

I didn’t want to risk it by being careless.

That kiss meant she was ready to open her heart again.

And I wanted nothing more than to be worthy of that trust.

The months that followed were everything I’d hoped for.

We grew closer, more in sync with each other.

Even our first night together felt right, honest, intimate, deeply connected.

Maddie was passionate, gentle, and completely unfazed by my prickly nature; the same edge that had driven others away didn’t seem to bother her at all.

Honestly, I felt like the luckiest guy alive.

Moving in together felt like the natural next step.

It brought us even closer, gave us the chance to deepen our connection, to build something real,

a life we could be proud of. With our careers beginning to take shape and our bond becoming stronger, I finally felt like I had something solid.

Something that might actually last. For the first time since losing my dad, I felt like I had some control over my life. With Maddie, I wasn’t drifting anymore.

I’d found my anchor. My safe harbour.

But the warmth of those memories can only hold me for so long. Reluctantly, I pull myself back to the present.

As the images of those early days with Maddie begin to fade, I brace myself for whatever comes next.

After hearing so much about him, after envying him, resenting him, almost hating him, for the hold he still seemed to have on Maddie… It feels surreal to think I’m actually going to meet Sebastian. That I’ll be sharing a flat with him.

That I’ll have to be polite.

And considering I’ve never exactly been known for my acting skills, the thought of pretending to be friendly while living under the same roof isn’t exactly thrilling.

The whole situation makes my skin crawl.

I just hope this awkward arrangement doesn’t last too long and that it doesn’t end in complete disaster.